Equality...Kind Of

Black Soldiers-The Unsung Heroes of WWII
Christopher Paul Moore

Review by Will Hunt

         Does color on the outside of us really matter? Why do people judge others based off of our outside skin color?

         In Black Soldiers-The Unsung Heroes of WWII you hear many intriguing decisions, for better or worse, made by white males with power in the army or government. These decisions were typically made on whether black or African-American soldiers should be used in combat during the war. Often they chose to use them, but they would be given less significant jobs solely for the fact they were African-American. These included cooking, cleaning and more chores, not fighting. An example of this was when USA started to send men down to Australia. Along with these men they would send big machinery, weaponry and goods to have the ability to set up a base. Australia was completely fine with this...as long as black soldiers didn’t come. An American military leader once wrote in a letter , “Their policy of exclusion against everyone except the white race known locally as the “White Australia” plan is universally supported here.” This is showing the pure racism and idea that skin color portrayed some people as less human than others who existed in the world. Eventually an agreement was settled and in Australia, USA black soldiers had very little rights. All they pretty much were allowed to do was work and stay on the work site and port; whereas whites had freedom to go and do whatever they wanted when they weren’t on duty, and they weren’t on duty much compared to blacks. Basically, the point the book is trying to get across is how under-valued these black soldiers were and how they selflessly put their bodies on the lines for near nothing in return.

         From my perspective, Black Soldiers-The Unsung Heroes of WWII was a very information heavy text. Often at times it uses a wide vocabulary. So wide at times that I couldn’t fully comprehend what the text was saying. So, it, at times, was hard to follow with a complete understanding of what was going on. With my current, basic vocabulary I was often perplexed at certain words and had to review a dictionary or use context clues to help me figure it out. There were also plenty of times when I did use the dictionary and context clues and I still couldn’t understand what was going on. Obviously this is not ideal for an informational text, but this happened to me a few times whilst I was indulging in the material. As well as the need for a large vocabulary, you also needed some background knowledge. And not simple background info. You needed to know many specific events from WWII which I did not know. Furthermore, this puzzled me as I couldn’t quite conceptualize what was happening or relate it to events in the past which I had learned about. And not knowing what is happening completely disqualifies all the amazing, in depth information that is being provided. Also, I personally couldn’t really connect and relate to the book. All of the people about whom I read related noting to me. It was a completely different time, and people were being treated completely differently from the way they are now. If some of the comments made by privileged the white individuals made then were to be made today, they would be ridiculed to death, whereas back then that was normal, and no one batted an eyelash when they were said. 

That being said, if you do have some background information and a great vocabulary, you can gain so much knowledge from this and knowledge is very valuable. The density of information in the 323 pages is quite astonishing. It’s important that we know what the past is like, so we can prevent things from happening in the future. Although, as previously stated, it can be hard to comprehend at times, but when you can comprehend it you gain so much useful information. As well as useful information, I kept asking myself while reading what it must be like to be in the mistreated like the blacks were. This made me respect them more and more, and I realized how noble these men really were. Therefore, I recommend this book if you’re a history junkie looking to get a very detailed insight on what black soldiers had to go through during WWII. But, if you’re looking for more of a general, easier to comprehend text with less need of background information, I suggest looking elsewhere.